Owner of Asian supermarket chain takes city of Quincy back to court

Fang accuses city council of failing to give him fair hearing

Team 5 Investigates has learned the owner of a popular Asian grocery store chain is taking the city of Quincy back to court for a second time after the city council refused to grant him a special permit that would let him open up a grocery store in an old gear-making plant at 10 Hayward St. in North Quincy, Mass.

Michael Fang's store, C-Mart, would add about 100 jobs and an estimated $100,000 in tax revenue, but the city council has twice denied Fang an opportunity to open up, citing traffic concerns.

In 2009, Fang took the city to land court, claiming he didn't get a fair hearing because City Councilor Brian McNamee, a vehement opponent of the project, was biased. Three years later, under a proposed settlement with the city, Fang won his right to a fair hearing that would not include McNamee.

However, following deliberation at a May 20, 2013, hearing, the city council, in a vote of 5-3, denied Fang's request for a special permit again.

In a lawsuit filed late Monday in land court, Fang is accusing the city council of failing to give him a fair hearing. He says city officials also refused to work with him to address their concerns. Fang and his attorneys are asking the court to annul the city council's decision and hold a trial to determine whether C-Mart is entitled to the issuance of a special permit based on the evidence.

Jim Timmins, city solicitor for Quincy, denied to comment on the allegations in the suit. However, Timmins did tell Team 5 Investigates that the city's traffic engineer met with Mr. Fang, along with an independently-retained peer review engineer, to review traffic issues.

In a written statement, Timmins said, "They worked for several months with Mr. Fang's traffic engineers on the issues of traffic, and so it is incorrect -- at the least -- for him to say otherwise."

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